All tagged Cover Art

Links + Things: It's Been Too Long Edition

Links + Things: It's Been Too Long Edition

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

It's been a couple of weeks since my last link roundup, and I've collected a ton of interestingness to share with you--hope you enjoy! Also, I've found a bunch of good deals on good books lately that will keep you reading for awhile, so make sure to scroll down to check out these bargains. 

Required Reading

For Colored Girls Who Can’t Find Themselves Between the Pages (Romance Around the Corner)

“We can start with the money. White people sell, on the surface. The truth is people of color sell too, when their stories are given the proper exposure. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is always a movie I like to point out. Amazing, award-winning film and not once have I heard anyone say, “That really could have used more white people.” It did well in the US market because it was a great film that got proper exposure. Marketing matters, people. When it’s really difficult to find positive and realistic stories about people of color, white and people of color alike think those stories don’t exist. ”
— Rebekah Weatherspoon

Romance Around the Corner hosted a fantastic week of posts celebrating and deconstructing heroines in romance-focused fiction. (I was thrilled to participate, with adiscussion and recommendations for brave YA girls.) While all of the posts were thought-provoking and compelling, author Rebekah Weatherspoon's post about representation was the one that I kept coming back to. It has over 50 comments at this point, and that discussion is definitely worth reading as well.

Links + Things: Semi-Short & Sweet Edition

Links + Things: Semi-Short & Sweet Edition

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Just a semi-quick roundup of links this week, since I'm on a semi-vacation at home this week and next. So, just bulleted news, cover art and some good deals on books in this edition. We'll be back to our regular programming shortly.  

Recommended Reading

Links + Things: Justin Timberlake! The Calming Manatee! Plagiarism (Ugh)! Sexism (Double Ugh)! Libraries! General Interestingness!

Links + Things: Justin Timberlake! The Calming Manatee! Plagiarism (Ugh)! Sexism (Double Ugh)! Libraries! General Interestingness!

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

You guys, it's been slow around these parts because I kind of lost the plot with my reading and nearly every book I've read in March isn't out until May or June. Obviously, I would be a jerk if I started reviewing things that weren't out for months--on a number of levels. 

However! I have many links of interestingness, including a Very Special Section devoted to the one and only Justin Timberlake. I have had The 20/20 Experience on repeat since Tuesday and I am in love--especially with Pusher Love Girl, which is Swoon City, USA.  ​

This Week's Video of Awesome

This is a ​fantastic speculative ad for Durex--it's brilliant and actually tells you want you need to know about the product.

Interestingness

Jane Goodall’s ‘Seeds of Hope’ book contains borrowed passages without attribution (Wash. Post)

Jane Goodall, the primatologist celebrated for her meticulous studies of chimps in the wild, is releasing a book next month on the plant world that contains at least a dozen passages borrowed without attribution, or footnotes, from a variety of Web sites.

The borrowings in “Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder From the World of Plants” range from phrases to an entire paragraph from Web sites such as Wikipedia and others that focus on astrology, tobacco, beer, nature and organic tea.

​Well, this is disappointing news to say the least. I'm getting so weary of one plagiarism story after another. I realize there are so many pressures to publish, publish, publish, but it's at the point I'm no longer all that surprised by each week's plagiarism story. What worries me the most is the desensitizing--I have had a number of students in their 20s who have been surprised by my anti-plagiarism spiel because it's the first time they've had someone explicitly address the issue of plagiarism and what it precisely means. 

Links + Things: Critiquing "Oz," Network TV's Vision Problem, How the Quiet Car Explains the World, Feminist/UnFeminist, Strong Female Characters + More

Links + Things: Critiquing "Oz," Network TV's Vision Problem, How the Quiet Car Explains the World, Feminist/UnFeminist, Strong Female Characters + More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

How is it Thursday already? This has been quite a week, particularly since--at long last--we launched the Clear Eyes, Full Shelves podcast. Give it a listen--we hope you enjoy the blend of discussion, humor and hijinks. 

This has been a bit of a slow week, bookish news-wise, but there's ​still loads of interestingness in the world. Check out a few of the tidbits I've gathered and don't forget to scroll to the end for book cover news and cheap book deals to feed your reading habit.

This Week's Video of Awesome

​You Tube user dair to love created this fan-freaking-fastic tribute to Friday Night Lights. It got kind of dusty in here when I watched this the first time. Ahem.

Interestingness

Why ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ Is A Major Step Back For Witches and Women (film.com)

No doubt the focus group responsible for “Great and Powerful” convinced themselves that female protagonists weren’t marketable (odd coming from the studio of Disney Princesses), and that a pouty, doubting hero would draw in a wider range of moviegoers. It was probably believed no one would ever see an Oz film unless it directly tied into the version they already knew and loved, and that trying to draw on original Oz tales would be too confusing and difficult. Audiences can follow along with Marvel and Tolkien, but the origin of Ozma would undoubtedly be too complicated. Why bring in Betsy and her mule, when we can have a Hollywood hunk on the poster, and witchy cleavage at the denouement?

​Over at film.com, Elizabeth Rappe dissects Hollywood's prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Oz the Great and Powerful. She points out that in the Oz novels, L. Frank Baum created stories with strong women as the leads, but Hollywood's interpretation reflects none of that.The new film falls back into the gender stereotypes present in nearly every blockbuster flick. It's been a long, long time since I read a number of the original Oz novels, and I'm interested in revisiting them now .

Links + Things: Viola Davis on 'Beautiful Creatures,' Sex and YA, Perfectionism, Connie Britton + More

Links + Things: Viola Davis on 'Beautiful Creatures,' Sex and YA, Perfectionism, Connie Britton + More

Sarah Moon
Links + Things

Links

Viola Davis on why her role in “Beautiful Creatures” changed from a maid to a librarian (Salon)

I’m going to be confident and bold and say I like it because, listen, I understand and I respect the book and I think the book is wonderful but this is 2013 and I think that when black people are woven into the lives of characters in 2013, then I think they play other roles than maids. I think that that needs to be explored and I hope that the audience is willing to suspend their disbelief and embrace what Richard LaGravenese has given them.

I enjoyed the first two Beautiful Creatures books (I put the series on hold until the last book came out and just haven't gotten caught up yet), but one of the big things that made them 3-star reads for me as opposed to 4-stars was the stereotypical role the authors chose to place Alma, who's an important character to the story. I love that the move creators recognized that this character has so much more potential than the book gave her and this news makes me more excited to see the movie adaptation. 

Dear Googler, Volume 2

Dear Googler, Volume 2

Sarah Moon
Dear Googler

Oh, Googlers….  I ♥ you so much. Once again, you asked, I answer.

We get some fantastic search engine queries and, naturally, can’t help but answer these burning questions. 

What are some novels featuring MINI Coopers?

Scorched by Laura Griffin (a terrorist tries to blow up a bridge with a MINI); Yellow MINI by Lori Weber; Carrie Jones’ Need Pixies series. I’m sure there are more, but I’m stumped. Maybe it’s time to rewatch The Italian Job? 

Will True Blood get back to its roots?

I highly doubt that. Just cross your fingers for more shirtless Eric and/or Alcide. 

Photos of Stefan crying.

At your service:

What’s a love poem with s’mores?